Alexander's Embedded Techwire

Even if You are not building robots, Microsoft Robotics Studio is able to deliver good value in Your project. What are robots other than a certain form of connected devices?

Check out the new CTP at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=EB00C558-2163-45A5-BEFE-531AD48BC525&displaylang=en

 

Alexander

 

There are two kinds of CF cards available. A lot of them are intended for use in cameras and  PDAs, etc. and have a bit set indicating that they are removable. The problem is that it is not possible to boot XPe on them without getting the bit set to fixed (there cannot be more than one partition on them either). There are tools in the market that will do this, but these do not always work reliably.

My advice would be to buy (industrial grade, of course) cards with the bit set to fixed to avoid that hassle and maybe negative side-effects.

 

Alexander

 

 

Distributed applications on mobile devices are hard to handle as soon as You need to have a reliable and robust communication mechanism. But wait, did You ever think about using email as transport layer for Your application?

Doing this is not too hard leveraging the new WCF capabilities in .NET CF 3.5!

Have a look at Andrew Arnott's article on MSDN to find our more about the details: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc164240.aspx.

 

Alexander 

Lots of products and tools are cranked out by the product teams in Redmond every year. Therefore it is quite important to get some guidance through that wealth. The Windows Mobile Line of Business Solution accelerator is both. Great architectural guidance as well as a great implementation sample. Go and check it out!

 

Alexander

 

My friend and fellow embedded MVP Sean Liming recently released a new tool that helps to manage the Device Update Agent change management infrastruture on XP embedded devices.

Check out this article: http://www.embedded-computing.com/news/db/?10134 or get it from http://www.sjjmicro.com/Products.html

 

Alexander

 

One year ago we did a great event in Nuremberg, Ansbach and Munich just right for the arrival of Windows VISTA. Rooms in all three cities were packed and expectations have been quite high.
After one year being in the market people's opinions are mixed on VISTA. Of course, there were problems with drivers, the new security and so on, as with every new major OS release . On the other side, some people are really fond of the new UI as well as programming models and would never want to go back to XP.
We think, that this is a great opportunity to bring everybody together again, exchange experiences and give direct feedback to high class Microsoft speakers, who are going to join us for the event.
In addition, this is also a great chance to get first hand information on the further Windows roadmap regarding VISTA SP1 and beyond.

I will be doing a session on the new VISTA Preinstallation Environment (WinPE 2.0), that will be a workshop with very little Powerpoint slides and a lot of demos.
It would be great to see You there.

 

We start in Nuremberg on the 28th of February 2008 and will also have one event in Munich (date to be announced).

Please register here: http://www.nik-nbg.de/asp/Veranstaltungen.asp?

 

Alexander

The XP embedded group is hosting a MSDN chat about HORM (Hibernate Once Resume Many) and servicing of field devices on January, 29th, 10.30am -11.30am (PST - that is 19.30pm - 20.30pm GMT for Europeans). 

I feel very honored, having the chance to participate as a guest expert on this occasion and I do hope a lot of You reading this blog are going to join us asking loads of questions around all aspects of XPe.

The more, the better - I am sure it will be great fun!

Maybe we can even shed some light onto interesting HORM/Update experiences some people might have run into.

So please, come in and be our guests.

Alexander

ClickOnce is a great technology to handle change management for applications in the field. Unfortunately its support is a bit confusing. Especially, if you are writing SQL Server Compact Edostion (SSCE) applications. SSCE claims support for ClickOnce, which is correct only for applications based on the normal .NET Framework running on desktop or tablet PCs. .NET Compact Framework apllications are unfortunately left behind. So, be awrea of this. It is, at least in my eyes, really a missing feature.

Of course, You are able to create something similar using the SSCE synchronisation features yourself, but this means to develop infrastructure code that ideally should come with the platform you are developing on.

 

Alexander

Conference season has just begun and some very important ones are pretty close.

One is VSONE in Munich, 13.-14-02.2008. It takes place directly in the IMAX cinema at the German Museum. What a venue! 

 

 

I will be speaking in two sessions about the handling of medical data on mobile clients and on how to leverage XP embedded on secure clinical workplaces.

Yes, medical applications are this years main topic. ;-)

 

So, be there or be square!

I am looking forward to see You!

 

Alexander  

 

to all readers of my blog!

 

May the next days give all of us a chance to sit back a little and get a better perspective on the really important things in life.

I do hope everybody will experience more peace, freedom, love and happiness in the coming year.

Our world is far from perfect, but especially we in the IT industry have the means to make it a better place, if we use our potential wisely.

 

Cheers,

Alexander 

Silverlight is the new and exciting Microsoft UI technology that crosses browsers and operating systems.

My friends from INETA have prepared a uniique competition at: http://www.silverlightchallenge.eu

This is really cutting edge technology and there are great prizes to win.

Go there or be square!  

 

 

Alexander

I have tried to create a custom PE image with a localized version of the the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit). But every time I tried to prep an image this would result in an error message.

It took me some time before I found out that this is due to a localization error. Peimg /prep ecpects that after a warning the user types in "yes" to confirm the sealing of the image.

In my localized version the warning text has been translated into German where "yes" means "ja". Well, so far so good, the bad thing is that the tool itself has not been changed to expect the German "ja"! It still only validates the English "yes". Neat, isn't it?

Therefore, wherever You are in the world and Peimg asks You to enter "ja", "si", "qui" or similar, You should always use "yes" to be succesful.

A truly globalized application.....

 

Alexander

Vista Embedded most probably will have product activation. Any thoughts on this? I wonder if this impacts the way You are building systems. If so, just let me know.

 

Alexander

I have been asked by quite few people what will happen when XP SP3 will come out.

I have good news: The Microsoft product group announced at MEDC this year that there will be an update to XP embedded including SP3 most probably in 2008.

 

Alexander